By Achieving Together Partners: Venton Hill Jones, Alexander Deets, Evany Turk, Lionel Hillard & Sheila Ann Crockett
We are all part of the Dallas HIV Task Force. Advocacy is a guiding principle of the Achieving Together plan and movement. One of the priorities of our task force is to advocate in our community in order for Dallas to achieve the 90/90/90/50 goals of Achieving Together.
- We advocate amongst our peers to raise awareness.
- We advocate with and educate our elected officials to make progressive policy decisions.
- We advocate within our local agencies to make sure we are highlighting best practices to make 90/90/90/50 a reality and to help eliminate barriers that will prevent the Dallas community from achieving this plan together.
In these 30-second videos, we share more about ourselves and the role of advocacy in helping make our goals a reality.
Venton Hill Jones, CEO of Southern Black Policy and Advocacy Network
“It’s important that we have diverse stakeholders at the table, including community, providers, and others who are committed to ending this HIV epidemic in Texas for all communities that are impacted.”
Alexander Deets, HIV Lifestyle Blogger (theHIVguy.com)
“When we speak up, we ensure that people get a voice in the goals of Achieving Together.”
Evany Turk, Membership Engagement Coordinate of Positive Women’s Network (USA)
“You can advocate in your community…you can advocate with your legislators…you can advocate in your local agency. We need everyone to get on board with this plan.”
Lionel Hillard, Chair of Dallas Ryan White Planning Council
“Advocacy helps educate you. Advocacy helps speak for those individuals who are not capable of speaking for themselves. Advocacy gives you a mechanism to get laws and policies changed.”
Sheila Ann Crockett, Co-Chair of Positive Women’s Network (DFW)
“If we do not change policy, we cannot end this epidemic of HIV and AIDS.”
Join us and others from around the state for 2019 HIV Advocacy Day on Wednesday, March 20, 2019. We will convene at 9:00 a.m. at the Family Life Center of the United Methodist Church of Austin at 1300 Lavaca St, Austin TX 78701.
Sign-up at https://legacytakesaction.org/hivday and join HIV advocates from across the state as we meet with state officials in Austin and discuss some of the most important HIV legislation of the 2019 legislative session including Medicaid, mental health, telemedicine, behavioral health in schools, women’s health, reproductive justice, and fighting discriminatory legislation.
Find out all the details about the Advocacy Day plans here.
Read the first Talking about HIV Advocacy post.